Monday, June 18, 2012

When emotion reigns; reason resigns
……………….. People often tend to display emotions – you have seen Harbhajan
celebrate taking a wicket, Aussies bullying opponents and there is also the
ice-cool Dhoni. Strong emotions are both a cause of, and a
result of conflict. People in conflict may have a variety of strong, and often
negative emotions--anger, distrust, disappointment, frustration, confusion,
worry, or fear. – and how much emotion can ruin a person was amply demonstrated
at Queens Club. The AEGON Championship has been dogged by poor
weather and unscheduled exits by its biggest stars, still a blood-spattered end
was totally unexpected by any stretch of imagination. Frayed tempers are not totally new – there have
been Ilie Nastase. John McEnroe and more.
– still this sort of an event is unheard of !

Tennis is an affable sport and players
are sportive….. one thought so ! – the Queen's Club Championships is an annual
tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in
West Kensington, London.
Originally known as the London Grass Court Championships, the tournament traces
back to 1884 ; between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix tennis
circuit. The event is now an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association
of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. From
2009 the tournament is known as the AEGON Championships following a comprehensive
sponsorship deal between Lawn Tennis Association and AEGON. Outside Wimbledon,
this is the grass-court tournament with the largest draw size. In addition, it
enjoys full coverage on the BBC in the UK, and was shown in High
Definition for the first time in 2009.

This year it was prospering so find Grigor
Dimitrov captured the hearts of the public after the exit of top seeds Andy
Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but his fairytale run came to an end after he was
beaten in the semi-finals by 10th seed David Nalbandian. Despite being nine years older Nalbandian showed impressive agility and
power to set up a showdown against sixth seed Marin Cilic in Sunday's final. In Saturday's other semi-final Cilic beat
2010 champion Sam Querrey 6-3 3-6 6-3. Cilic survived nine break points in the
first set to move ahead, but Querrey broke his 6ft 6in opponent twice in the
second in what was also a poor quality encounter. Perhaps Nalbandian was the
favourite to win – but the result of the finals was determined by a bizarre event.

David Pablo Nalbandian (born 1982) , an
Argentine player is a fiery competitor who for years has vied for the unwanted
title of 'best player never to win a major'. He reached the Wimbledon
final in 2002 when just 20, losing to
Lleyton Hewitt and has made $11million (about £7m) in prize money and was world
No 3 six years ago.

The match did not last till its final
moment as the challenger was defaulted because of Unsportsmanlike Conduct. The Argentine was in fact leading by a set and
trailing 3-4 when he kicked an advertising board in frustration at losing a
point, injuring a line judge sitting nearby.
ATP World Tour Supervisor Tom Barnes was called to the court and ruled
that the offence was an automatic disqualification for Nalbandian. The line judge received treatment from Ambulance and saw the Tournament
Medical Team. No further treatment was required. Barnes said: “It is unsportsmanlike conduct,
and the supervisor has the authority to declare an immediate default. Once I
saw that the line judge was injured, I didn't have any other option.” Tournament Director Chris Kermode said: “It
is obviously not the way that we wanted to finish the final and I can
understand the crowd’s frustration, but the tournament is governed by ATP rules
and this was a clear-cut case.

Reports have it that Marin Cilic made a return of serve wide to Nalbandian's
right, the Argentinian lunged for the ball and the forehand shot flew long at
the other end. Nalbandian kept running towards
the baseline judge, launched a furious kick at the box in which the line judge’s
chair was placed. Of the impact the
plywoods shattered, shards flew into Andrew MacDougall's left shin as he
recoiled in agony. Nalbandian apologized, but things had occurred and it was
too late; the Tournament officials were
summoned who awarded the game by default.

photo courtesy : www.dailymail.co.uk

Many in the crowd roared their
disapproval of the sudden halt to a final that was brewing up nicely, with
Nalbandian having taken the first set on a tiebreak but 4-3 down in the second
against towering Croat Marin Cilic. Yet the bleeding injuries to the line judge Andrew MacDougall did not offer much options to the Organisers.

Nalbandian sat fuming while a bemused
Cilic lifted the enormous trophy. There was no presentation to Nalbandian,
despite him making the final. He left with nothing. No ranking points, nor the
£36,144 prize money for the runner-up, and he is likely to be a net loser with
a maximum $10,000 fine possibly levied for what the rulebook defines as
'unsportsmanlike conduct'. Theoretically,
he could be suspended, too. There are
also comments that such hurting was not intentional and perhaps Nalbandian
could play once again later in his career. The player was contrite later, saying: 'I make
a mistake and I apologise. I felt very sorry for the guy but sometimes you get
angry and cannot control it.' He accused the ATP Tour of failing to support the
players in other areas and of being dictatorial, something else for which he
might end up getting fined. Controversies
are not entirely new for him as earlier he was fined $8,000 for throwing water
at an Australian Open tournament worker in January following a five-set defeat
to America's John Isner, known for his marathon games.